1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system, and deals more particularly with a method, system, and computer program product for extending payment protocols to include information related to the television context of commercial activity between a consumer using a television (or a set-top box) and a merchant, thereby enabling “TV commerce” to generate additional revenue streams.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic commerce, also commonly referred to as “e-commerce” or “e-business”, has become an overwhelmingly popular way of doing business on the Internet and World Wide Web (where the World Wide Web, hereinafter “Web”, is a subset of the Internet). The Internet is a vast collection of computing resources, interconnected as a network, from sites around the world. It is used every day by millions of people. With this growth, the commercial aspects of the Internet have also grown. Using the Internet for “on-line shopping”, a consumer today is able to purchase items from merchants around the corner, as well as from merchants around the globe and anywhere in between, all from the comfort of the consumer's own home. (Hereinafter, the terms “Internet” and “Web” are used interchangeably unless otherwise noted.)
Many Internet purchases are made by a consumer navigating directly to, and interacting with, a merchant's Web site. In this situation, the allocation of funds is clear: the purchase price is paid by the consumer to the merchant (minus any fees that might be owed to a third party such as a credit card company). However, Internet purchases are also frequently made by consumers who see the merchant's product as an advertisement on a different company's Web page (such as the Web page of a news service, search facility, etc.) Today, many Web sites contain advertisements of this type (commonly referred to as “affiliate programs”), where the advertisement provides a source of revenue for the site operator in a similar manner to the way in which merchants buying commercial air time provide revenues for broadcast television stations. Web advertisements today offer literally any kind of product and service a consumer might desire. As in most advertising, the Web advertiser rewards the site operator for showing the advertisement. In the Web context, this may involve paying the site operator a percentage of the sales generated through the Web site, paying a flat fee for each person selecting to view the advertiser's site, or some other comparable type of payment.
In the near future, this type of on-line shopping or electronic commerce is expected to be extended to viewers of television programs. The shopping functionality may be provided in a specially-enhanced television set, in a set-top box, or in other similar mechanisms which allow the television viewer to interact with a merchant's advertisement—for example, by using a browser-like function and a pointing device to indicate that the viewer would like to purchase a particular item. The interactive nature of the advertisements presented on television programs will then enable merchandising transactions to take on the same instantaneous character that the consumer has become accustomed to in the Internet environment. (“Set-top box” refers to commercially-available devices that, among other functions, enable a television set to function as a TV viewer's interface to the Internet. A set-top box typically contains software analogous to the Web browser software with which a computer user connects to, and interacts with, the Internet.) When on-line shopping moves to the television environment, however, there is no existing technique for the television operators to obtain revenues from this new shopping paradigm—even though a business agreement to this effect may be reached by the parties involved. The merchandising in the new on-line television shopping environment will occur between the viewer/consumer and the merchant as a series of electronic messages. Absent any special technical arrangement, these message exchanges may be transparent to the television system operator. (This transparency is particularly evident if payments for selected items are handled using forms-based credit card messages, as a “form” in this sense is a general-purpose electronic message which does not identify or distinguish a payment form from any other type of forms-based message, such as a mere inquiry or inquiry response form.)
It would be advantageous if various organizations responsible for delivering television programs were able to automatically share in the profits generated by merchandising in this new television shopping paradigm. These organizations, referred to hereinafter as “TV originators”, include: broadcast networks; TV stations or channels; program originators; program publishers; advertisers; advertising agencies; the cable or satellite TV system operators; and others. TV originators in general are those organizations involved in producing or distributing either TV programs or advertisements contained in TV programs. (Note that merchants—the company or individual who offers a product for sale—are not included within this definition of TV originators, as the merchants will participate in the merchandising revenue as a matter of course.)
Accordingly, what is needed is a technique with which TV originators can obtain a revenue stream from the TV commerce generated by consumers who purchase merchandise (or services) in this new television shopping paradigm. The present invention defines a technique for extending payment protocols to include information related to the TV context (e.g. detailed data such as identification of the provider of the television program or advertisement being viewed when a purchase is initiated) in which viewer purchases are made using a television or set-top box. This information is then used, according to the present invention, to enable TV originators to share in the profits (e.g. as a percentage of the sales totals) associated with viewer purchases.